Punch and Judy and English identity

Abstract

From fairgrounds to seaside resorts, Punch and Judy is perhaps one of the most iconic English puppet traditions and more recently has come to increasingly been framed as an icon of Englishness. This paper will look at the growing interest in understanding English identity and Punch and Judy as an aspect of that identity. What does a puppet, that for many conjures such wide-ranging memories as childhood, laughter, the beach, domestic violence, misogyny, ice cream, and to a lesser extent racism, say about English identity? Whose identity? How has the historiography shaped what we understand Punch and Judy to represent? In this short paper I will summarize the dominant history and historiography of the form; raise important questions and issues about women practitioners and representation of Judy within that history, interrogate Punch and Judy as a marker of Englishness, and outline a recently started three-year research project that takes up these key questions to deepen the historiography of Punch and Judy and its significance as an enduring popular cultural performance form.